


Tracking Blind

by treewhisker



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blindness, CANON WHO, Canon Divergence, Disability, Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Learning Disabilities, Ninken | Ninja Dogs, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Disability, Ratings will change as story progresses, Seeing Eye Dogs, Trans Character, he’s still a ninja btw, original wolf characters - Freeform, raised by wolves trope but like. not really, seeing eye dog, seeing-eye dogs, tags that’ll be relevant after the first chap:, theyre only super relevant in like the first two chapters lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-14 14:21:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18054149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treewhisker/pseuds/treewhisker
Summary: Everyone said Inuzuka Kiba started meters behind everyone else. That he’d have to work thrice as hard to be at the same level. That he should give up.Inuzuka Kiba endeavors to prove them wrong.—Or, Kiba is blind, but he can see more than anyone else.





	1. Mother

**Author's Note:**

> the beginning isn’t great but pls stick with it i promise it’ll get better lmao  
> this firstchapter is just... world building, kinda. lore, and explanation for why the second chapter will be the way it is, etc. the third chapter is where things actually start taking place in Konoha! 
> 
> also, i’ll fill up the trans and disability tags myself if i have to. don’t test me

The Inuzuka were famed for their amazing senses of smell and hearing, rivaled by only the Hatake. Seeing as the Hatake had died out save for one individual, and that individual was half Inuzuka, most looked to Inuzuka for anything tracking-wise.

The only issue within the Inuzukas was that their eyesight was less than stellar.

Many of other clans joked on how the Inuzuka’s companions doubled as seeing-eye dogs.

They were unaware of how on the nose these jokes were in regards to a few of the Inuzuka children.

 

* * *

 

 

Legend told that both the Inuzuka and Hatake’s founders were raised by the Mother Wolf, matriarch to the wolf summons. These clan founders learned their extraordinary sense of smell and hearing from her and her children, accepted as Pack long before the founders even considered starting families. Ze’ev, the Hatake, settled down first, as legend states, followed by Tikaani, the Inuzuka. 

The Mother Wolf’s children ran alongside these clans as protection, fiercely guarding their Mother’s will. The Hatake’s companions became dogs, both in summon and in body. The Inuzuka’s companions remained wolflike, reflected in the clan’s own feral-looking selves. Their summons came from the great Forest, while their lupine partners remained living with them.

To Inuzuka, both dogs and wolves were and are held in very high esteem. The clan markings of Inuzuka stem from Mother Wolf’s battle scars, the summons say, but very few know for sure. It is a rare and sacred occasion when  _ anyone _ can see the Mother Wolf, especially in her old age. Her children, Teekon and Tivaci, each have a similar scar on separate sides of their muzzles. Many say the twin sisters will inherit their Mother’s legacy.

Inuzuka Tsume and Inuzuka Kiba were of the only four living Inuzuka to see the Mother Wolf. Well… “see,” in Kiba’s case. 

The Mother Wolf, while held in high regard for her battle prowess, was also a very skilled healer. Many said there were few things she hadn’t healed, one of those being death itself. Kiba… Kiba was on that short list, as well.

 

* * *

When Inuzuka Kiba was born, he was a loud and insufferable baby. This, however, wasn’t unusual for an Inuzuka child. Honestly, few outgrew the loudness and energetic nature of their childhood. 

The odd part was when he reached the end of his first year. 

Typically, by then, a child would have rapt attention on a few things, hyperfixating and exploring. While Kiba  _ tried _ to explore, his eyes never focused on anything in particular, and he sustained a large amount of small injuries due to colliding with… well, everything. 

Hana had no idea what to do, really. 

She was only five when her little brother was born, five and a half when their father left. She babysat, sure, as her mother and uncles were active-duty jounin, but she’d never had to deal with any child as troublesome as Kiba. Even her cousins had no idea what to do. So it was no surprise, that when Kiba turned two, Tsume had taken him to the Forest. 

Hana had no idea what went on there until she was eight, but the renewed, steely determination in her mother’s eyes said it all.

 

* * *

“Mother Wolf-sama,” Tsume kneeled, her son carefully cradled in one arm, “I come to plead for your assistance.”

“Tsume…” Mother rumbled, her massive size dwarfing the pair, “You have never asked to see me, not even once, unlike your clansmen. I must assume, then, that your presence here is urgent?”

Teekon and Tivaci sat on either side of Mother, their pitch black fur melding them with the shadows. Their Mother’s fur had grown so silver with age that she resembled the moon, but her original coloring was reflected in her daughters. While Teekon and Tivaci put on a stoic front, the slant of their ears betrayed their worry. Both had known Tsume since she was but a pup, and they knew that Tsume  _ hated _ asking for help. 

“Yes, Mother. It is my son.” Tsume murmured, worry barely noticeable in her tone. Her scent, however, was thick with it. Tsume had tried to mask the majority of it, but despite her efforts, she knew the Pack could smell it as soon as she entered their domain. “I believe that he cannot see. Our medics within the village and clan have attempted to help, but there’s nothing that we can do.”

“I will look at him,” Mother slowly stood, joints creaking. Tsume attempted to tell her not to, but twin shakes of the Sisters’ heads quieted her worry for the matriarch. Just as Mother reached Tsume, she raised Kiba, not wanting Mother to exert herself unnecessarily. Were it any other summoning clan, the gesture would be seen as disrespectful, but the Wolves and the Inuzuka shared a special bond. 

With unparalleled gentleness, Mother lifted Kiba into her massive paw. The soft green glow of medical chakra surrounds her boy, comforting in its warmth. A minute passed, seeming to stretch for an hour on Tsume’s end, as Mother examines Kiba. When Kiba was safely nestled in Tsume’s arms, Mother shakes her head. 

“He is truly blind, child. I attempted to rewire his nerves to allow sight, but it seems they are well and truly incapable of sight.”

“Thank you for trying, Mother,” Tsume murmured, holding Kiba close. “If you were willing, then, could you raise Kiba for the next few years? You, above all others, know how to operate without sight. Just for his developing years. Once he knows how to ‘see,’ I think I, as well as the rest of my clan, will be able to raise him among his peers.”

“Of course, child. I will leave him with Ashi. He, as you know, is also blind. The rest of the Pack will assist, of course, but Ashi is best suited to teaching him for now.”

“Thank you, Mother.” Tsume bows lowly, somehow not waking Kiba in the process. “I leave him in your capable paws.”


	2. Learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashi teaches Kiba how to see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello uwu  
> there will be some animal death in this chapter! only mentioned, not shown.   
> some lore notes are at the end notes!

Ashi sniffed the bundle that Tivaci placed before him. “What is this.”

“You know full well what it is,” Tivaci huffed indignantly, “your nose and ears are the best out of all of us. But, to answer your question, he is your charge. His name is Kiba, and he’s blind. Tsume-chan wants you to teach him.” 

“Tsume does?” Ashi hummed in thought, his ears twitching as he listened to the pup’s breathing. That changed things. Tsume and Ashi had played together for years in her early development --  plus, the Haimaru brothers were his cousins. So… as much as Ashi was loathe to admit it, he had a soft spot for Tsume.

Tivaci chuffed, her victory cemented. “If you need anything, the Pack is here. You know that, though.”

“Yes. I do.” Ashi blinked his sightless eyes, gently lifting Kiba from his previous bed of Ashi’s paws. The blind wolf had a cozy den, one large bed for himself and two smaller guest beds. Carefully, he pulled a guest bed to lie directly next to his own, and gingerly set Kiba inside.

This would be a long assignment.

 

* * *

“Kiba. Listen to me,” Ashi rumbled, kneeling before the small child. “If you want to get by in this world, you need to learn how to make your ears and your nose replace your eyes.”

“Tha’s scary…” 

“N-Not literally,” he laughed in surprise, “Without your eyes, people will underestimate you. But if you use your scent and hearing, you can be even better than those who can see.”

“So… they think they better? But not?”

“Yes. Correct. You are with me so you can learn to be better than them. Stronger.”

“I’m… strong?”

“You will be.”

 

* * *

“Shi! Shi!” Kiba gurgled at Ashi, fingers kneading against his ears. The now three year old had been living with him for a year, and Tsume had only visited on Kiba’s birthday. “Get dinner?”

“We’re getting dinner.” Ashi responded, nodding. Kiba giggled and cheered as he was rocked by the nods. “You will come with me on the hunt. Observe.”

“Ob… zerv?” 

“It means ‘watch.’”

“Okay!”

 

* * *

“ASHI!” Kiba crowed, running to their shared den, “I FOUND A BIRDIE!” 

Ashi winced at the loudness, but didn’t chastise the boy. Inuzukas, and pups in general, were loud. The only issue he had was that of his advanced hearing. But, no matter. Two years with Kiba had given Ashi a profound fondness for the child. “What kind of bird did you find, Kiba?”

“A YUMMY one!” Kiba’s clothes shifted, and Ashi guessed that he was holding it up proudly. By the smell of it, Kiba also had blood smeared all around his mouth. “Wan’ some?”

“...Sure, pup.”

 

* * *

“How do I… not get…” Kiba trailed off, unsure of the word he wanted. He poked Ashi’s ears and nose.

“Overwhelmed? Overstimulated?” Ashi offered, curled around Kiba to share warmth. Winter could be harsh in the Forest, and they did all they could to stay warm.

“Overwhelmed!” Kiba nodded emphatically. “When you… hear and smell.”

“Hm… sometimes, I try to go somewhere quiet or with less smells. But sometimes, I can’t stop being overwhelmed. I just work through it, but when I was younger, I threw a lot of tantrums.”

“But how do I get used to it without…” Kiba fiddled with the necklace of teeth he wore. The necklace helped him focus when he messed with it. “Losing my smell? Like you said.”

“Ah. You do it slowly, pup. Just like how we needed to be careful when making the necklace, remember? We didn’t want to break it, and we didn’t want to over-hunt. So we do it gradually.”

“Grad-jully?”

“It means slowly, so we don’t rush.”

“Okay! Will you help me? Will you, Ashi?” The rustle of fabric and click of the necklace made Ashi think that Kiba had started rocking from side to side in his excitement. They weren’t close enough for Ashi to tell through touch.

 

* * *

“Now, Kiba.” Ashi was seated before his charge. Kiba’s sensing had developed well enough that he could tell most creature’s location by scent and hearing alone. It was time for the next lesson. “Touch isn’t limited to your skin. If you focus and practice enough, you can feel the wind, the pressure… this makes sensing even stronger.”

“I can already smell and hear good, though,” Kiba frowned in confusion. 

“With the touch sensing, you can be even stronger than those who use their eyes,” Ashi explained, catering to Kibas innate desire to compete. 

“How do I do it?!” Kiba chirped, and any outsider would say that his cloudy eyes were sparkling. Alas, Ashi could only work off of the sound of his voice.

“You aren’t going to like this, but we should start with meditating. Become one with nature. If you need to, you can fiddle with your necklace.”

“Aww… okay.” Kiba sounded like he was pouting, but the rustle of clothes showed that he was getting into reverse lotus. Ashi took up a similar position. Well. As similar as a wolf could attempt. 

“Clear your mind, breathe deeply, and let your mind clear. Be one with the Forest.”

And if, three hours later, Kiba had odd red marks alongside his clan tattoos, no one was there to see it.

 

* * *

When Tsume picked up Kiba, over three years later, the boy clung to Ashi’s fur and bawled. The wolf had  _ no idea _ what to do. While he, too, was quite attached to the pup, he hadn’t anticipated the… fanfare. 

“I don’ wanna leave Ashi!” Kiba wailed, piercing against the wolf’s ears. Tsume pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. She clearly didn’t know what to do, either.

“You can visit? I can visit?” Ashi suggested helplessly, his paw awkwardly patting Kiba’s back. He could feel Tivaci and Teekon laughing at him from their hiding places. He’d get revenge on them, eventually. 

“P-Promise? We gotta… we gotta make a new necklace once I’m bigger,” Kiba blubbered, still clinging to Ashi’s neck tufts. 

“Yes, yes, I promise. Every Saturday, okay? Unless you have plans. Then we can change to another day. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Kiba sniffs. “Okay.”

Tsume nods her thanks. Ashi would normally be offended, seeing as he  _ can’t see the gesture _ , but Tsume knew he appreciated not being treated differently. 

Kiba reached up to take Tsume’s hand with surprising accuracy, at least to her. To Ashi, it was the culmination of three years’ hard work. 

The old wolf was happy, he thought, watching Kiba and Tsume de-summon from the Forest. Tivaci and Teekon’s silent approval only served to make his mood lift more. He did good on this one.

 

* * *

“Do you think you can enter the academy? Or do you wanna wait? Hana doesn’t give a shit either way, since she’s gonna be the one watchin’ ya.” Tsume gently swung her and her son’s hands, observing how he walked with confidence, as if he’d never had to learn something most kids saw as basic.

“I wanna join. I wanna be a shinobi.” Kiba said adamantly, looking up at her with sightless eyes. The determination in his eyes surprised her. It seemed her son was full of surprises. 

“Okay, bud. You’ll have some trouble with kunai and shuriken, but I think the rest will work out fine. Maybe another shinobi can help…” Tsume continued planning to herself, but Kiba stared resolutely forward. 

He was going to be a strong shinobi. Maybe not the strongest, but strong.

And no one could stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not too happy w the ending of this chap but it’s whTever. plot n filler chap  
> LORE NOTES: mother wolf is not a name, it’s a title. when the Mother dies, teekon and tivaci will be co-mothers, each going by a different term for Mother.   
> the forest is where wolf summons reside. deer summons’ lands are nearby.   
> there is always a blind wolf in the generations, sometimes more. no one knows why.  
> wolf summons vary in size. some are the size of a german shepherd, others are massive, like Manda or Katsuyu. 
> 
> leave comment? please? no matter what kind uwu

**Author's Note:**

> comment? constructive crit? hmu!


End file.
